Method of making a picture hanger



March 23, 1965 MARGULls a 3,174,210

METHOD OF MAKING A PICTURE HANGER Filed D80. 13, 1962 INVENTOR. JOSEPH MMA/PG'UL/S BY SM ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,174,210 METHOD OFMAKDIG A PICTURE HANGER Joseph M. Margulis, Jiffy Enterprises, Inc., 150N. 13th St., Philadelphia 7, Pa. Filed Dec. 13, 1962, Ser. No. 244,490Claims. (Ci. 29-150) In general, this invention relates to a new andimproved method for making a picture hanger. More particularly, itrelates to a method for making a nail-less hanger for pictures and thelike capable of being secured to the surface of a wall without marringthe surface or penetrating it.

In order to hang objects such as pictures, ceramics, maps, etc., usuallya solid-type fastener such as a nail or wire hook is employed to securethe object to a wall. The use of such nails or wire hooks wassubstantially obviated by the nail-less hanger for pictures set forth inmy prior Patents 2,647,711 and 2,809,001. The nail-less hangers in saidpatents had the advantages of being capable of quick application to anysurface wherever needed and left no tell-tale cracks, breaks or marksupon the wall.

The present invention is an improvement over the nailless hangers insaid patents. The nail-less hangers in said patents have evidentlyachieved their purpose and have been commercially successful The presentinvention is directed to a different mode of manufacturing a picturehanger with a resultant device which is extremely advantageous whenutilized with a similar picture hanger secured to the back of the objectto be hung in maintaining the object in place against swiveling orcocking of the hanger.

The nail-less hangers in my prior patents had a separate hook which wassecured to a support bar by a separate rivet or by an integral tubularflange swaged over the hack of the support bar. The hooks in thesepatents swiveled with respect to the support bar. If such a hanger wassecured to the back of an object and then used with a similar hanger ona wall to hang the object, it was necessary to move one of the swivalhooks out of the way. in order for the other hook to go through theeyelet of the hanger.

In addition, it can easily be understood that manufacturing difficultieswill always occur when an article is formed from two separate parts. Inthe case of the nail-less picture hanger of the above-mentioned Patent2,809,001, the three parts of which it is manufactured are theadhesive-coated cloth, the metal support bar, and the hook with itsintegral tubular flange. The present invention improves the method ofmanufacturing nail-less hangers by utilizing only two parts to producethe hanger of the present invention. These two parts are theadhesive-coated cloth and the metal support bar. The hook of thenail-less hanger of the present invention is formed by a U-shaped cutoutfrom the metal support bar during a punching operation.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a methodofmanufacturing a nail-less hanger supporting device having a hookintegral with the supporting her of the hanger. 7

Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved methodof manufacturing a nail-less hanger from an adhesive-backed material anda metal support 3,174,210 Patented Mar. 23, 1965 ice A still furtherobject of the present invention is to provide a nail-less wall hangersupporting device which is simple and easy to manufacture at asufficiently low cost so that it will be readily accessible to thebuying public. It is a further object of the present invention toprovide a method of manufacturing a wall hanger supporting device whichis capable of being readily applied to any surface and removed therefromWithout injuring said surface.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in thedrawings forms which are presently preferred; it being understood,however, that this invention is not limited to the precise arrangementsand instrumentalities shown.

FIGURE 1 is a schematic showing of apparatus for performing the methodof the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of a wall hanger built in accordance withthe principles of the present invention.

FIGURE 3 is a perspective showing of the cooperation between two wallhangers utilized to support an object on a wall.

FIGURE 4 is a cross sectional view of the wall hanger of FIGURE 3 takenalong lines 44. I

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of a wall hangerwhich is built in accordance with the principles of the presentinvention.

In FIGURE 1, there is shown schematically apparatus for performing themethod of the present invention. This apparatus is generally designatedby the numeral 10.

The first step in the method of the present invention requires theprovision of a flexible material having an adhesive coating on one sidethereof. This flexible ma-.. terial may be cloth with a layer ofwater-activated adhesive such as casein-type glue on one side thereofsuch as is shown in my prior Patents 2,647,711 and 2,809,001, or in thealternative, it may be a transparent synthetic material such as Mylar,vinyl plastic, cellophane, etc., with a layer of pressure-sensitiveadhesive on one surface as shown in my U.S. Patent 3,052,436. If thislatter type of material is used, it is preferable that it be providedwith a sheet of calendered paper in abutting con tact with thepressure-sensitive adhesives. Calendered paper is readily removable whenit is desired to aflix the hanger to a supporting wall or the like. Inthe interest of clarity, the method of the present invention will bedescribed with respect to a cloth material having a water-activatedadhesive on one side thereof.

In FIGURE 1, a roll 12 of water-sensitive adhesivecoated cloth is'shownmounted with its axis 14 on suitable standards 16. Thecloth 17 fed fromthe roll 12 has a water-sensitive adhesive coating 18 on its uppersurface.

A roll of thin metal strip 20 is mounted with axis 22 on standards 24centrally with respect to the cloth 17 so that a strip of metal 26 willmove longitudinally with the cloth 17 with its side edges parallel tothe side edges of the cloth. The metal and cloth pass through a pair ofrollers 28 and 30 which maintain them in place while moving the stripand cloth at the same speed along a guideway or conveyor (not shown).

A water applicator 34 is provided after the roller 28 so as to moisten astrip of the water-sensitive adhesive coating 18 spaced one metal stripwidth away from a side edge of the metal strip 26.

The moistened adhesive-coated cloth and metal strip are then received bya folding unit 36 having a contoured folding surface 38 adapted to foldover the flap of adhesive-coated cloth which has been moistened from theside edge of the metal strip 26.

It will be understood that other methods of folding over and moisteningthe adhesive-coated cloth can be utilized. For instance, pre-moistenedcloth can be fed perpendicular to the metal strip along one side edgethereof with a suitable folder adapted to achieve the same purposes asfolder 36. The adhesive coating normally will not operate to glue thecloth to the metal strip unless a pressure roller is provided.Therefore, if the adhesive coating 18 is moistened at a point whichcomes in contact with the metal strip, there will be no securementthereto without pressure being applied. If desired, a heater may beincluded immediately after the folder to evaporate any excess moisturewithout drying the adhesive coating completely. The adhesive coatingwould then be tacky and easily susceptible to gluing by the pressureroller 42 to be discussed below.

The flap 40 folds over the metal strip 26 and onto the remainingadhesive-coated cloth designated by the numeral 41. The portion of theflap 40 moistened by the water applicator 34 is adjacent one side of themetal strip 26. This moistened portion is then glued to the adhesivecoating of the flap 41 by a pressure roller 42 having a backing 44. Thepressure roller 42 is activated by a suitable motor 46 to form a gluedstrip 48. The remaining portion of the flap 40 is designated by thenumeral 72 and will not stick to the surface of flap 41 as the adhesive18 is only activated when water is applied thereto.

It should be noted at this point that the pressure roller 42 is the onlypower being transmitted to the metal strip and adhesive cloth. Thisroller 42 is intermittently operated by the motor 46 in timedrelationship with the punch 50 to be discussed below.

After the cloth and support bar have passed through the pressure roller42 and back-up 44, a partially finished nail-less hanger has beenmanufactured minus the hook. The article consists of an adhesive-coatedflexible matefolded over a support member and secured along the unfoldedside of the support member along line 48 to form a hinge for the supportmember. This article could be the adhesive-coated cloth as shown inFIGURE 1 having the flap 40 glued to the flap 41 along line 48, or theflap 40 could be stitched to the flap .1 to form the hinge as shown inUS. Patent 2,809,001, or the material can be transparent with apressure-sensitive coating having calendered paper thereon as shown inUS. Patent 3,052,436.

The article is then. fed to a punch and cutter assembly consisting of amovable punch 50 having an integral cutter 54 at one edge thereofreciprocal with respect to a stationary block 52. The punch 50 has asuitable die thereon to punch out a curved U-shaped tab from the supportbar 26 while cutting off the portions of flaps 40 and 41 covering theU-sh-aped tab 74. The stationary member 52 has a suitable die cavity 56therein which forms a curve in the tab 74 with its radius on the side ofthe tab opposite from the support bar 26. The cutter 54 stops thearticle at predetermined intervals to form the individual nail-lesshangers 60. The nail-less hangers 60 fall onto a suitable conveyor 58after the cutter 54 has operated.

The nail-less picture hanger 60 formed by the method discussed aboveconsists of a fiat planar back portion 62 having an adhesive coating 64on one side thereof. The upper portion 71 of the adhesive coating 64extends to the joint 48 between the flap 72 and the back portion 62. Themetal strip 26 forming the support bar is held in place between anoverlapping portion 58 of adhesive-coated material and the fiat backportion 62 by the U-shaped tab 74. The hook 74 was formed by cutting outa U-shaped opening 78 from the metal bar 26. The excess cloth on bothsides of the tab 74 has been cut off along the hinge line 76 of the tab74 during the punching operations. Thus, the metal is exposed for a neatappearance. The U-shaped tab '74 is curved for reasons which will becomeapparent with respect to FIGURES 3 and 4.

In FIGURES 3 and 4, there are shown two hangers 60 and 60' interlockedin a manner whereby an object (not shown) can be simply and easily hungon a wall surface (not shown). The picture hanger 60 would have itsadhesive surfaces 71 and 72 glued to the wall. The surfaces 71' and 72'of hanger 60' would be glued to the object which is to be hung. Thehooks 74 and 74' of the hangers 60 and 60' respectively are interlockedin a manner whereby the hook 74' passes through the U-shaped opening 78and the hook 74 passes through the U-shaped opening 78'. Because of thecurved surface of the tabs 74 and 74, they are able to easily passthrough the holes 78' and 78 while being held in place by the springaction of the tabs about their respective hinges 76 and 76'. This springaction of the tabs locks the hangers 60 and 60 one to another. There canbe little or no pivotal movement between the hangers as the tabs willnot rotate and the sides of the U-shaped openings 78 and 78 prevent suchmovement.

In FIGURE 5, there is shown a second embodiment of the presentinvention. The picture hanger 60" shown in FIGURE 5 is substantiallysimilar to the hooks 60 and 60' discussed previously. The hook 60" has atop adhesive-coated portion 64" and a bottom hinged adhesivecoatedportion 72" over a metal support bar covered portion 68". A U-shapedopening 78" has been made through, the covered support bar portion 68"inrthe forming of a book 74''. The hook 74" is the only pant of thepicture hanger that is different from the previously described picturehangers.

That is, the hook portion 74" is L-shaped to give the standard hookappearance in combination with the picture hanger 60".

It can be easily understood that the picture hanger 60 is capable ofcooperating with a similar picture hanger in the manner shown in FIGURE4 with respect to picture hangers 60 and 60'.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms withoutdeparting from the spirit or essential attributes thereof and,accordingly, reference should be made to the appended claims, ratherthan to the foregoing specification as indicating the scope of theinvention.

I claim:

1. A method of manufacturing a nail-less picture hanger comprising thesteps of providing a strip of folded over adhesive-coated flexiblematerial having a metal support bar secured between the fold, andpunching out a U-contoured tab from the metal support bar through thelayers of adhesive-coated flexible material.

2. The method of manufacture of claim 1 including the step of cuttingpredetermined widths of the strip simultaneously with the step ofpunching out the U-contoured tab.

3. The method of manufacture of claim 1 including the step of cuttingoff the U-contoured tabs of adhesive-coated flexible material formedduring the step of punching out the U-contoured tab from the metalsupport bar.

4. The method of manufacture of claim 1 wherein the step of providingthe strip includes the steps of feeding a strip of material ofindefinite length having an adhesive coating on one side thereof,placing a metal strip of indefinite length and a width less than halfthe width of the strip of material on the adhesive-coated side of thematerial, folding the strip of material continuously over the metalstrip along one side edge of the metal strip, and continuously securingthe material one layer to another along the other side edge of the metalstrip.

5. The method of manufacture of claim 1 wherein the step of providingthe strip includes the steps of feeding a strip of material ofindefinite length having an adhesive coating on one side thereof,placing a metal strip of indefinite length and a width less than halfthe width of the strip of material at right angles to the adhesivecoated References Cied by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 11/36Wallin 248-28 7/38 Burke 24829 Hexdall 248301 XR Margulis 248--29Rabinevitch 24829 Beare 29417 Bnaun 29155.55

WHITMORE A. WILTZ, Primary Examiner.

CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Examiner.

1. A METHOD OF MANUFACTURING A NAIL-LESS PICTURE HANGER COMPRISING THESTEPS OF PROVIDING A STRIP OF FOLDED OVER ADHESIVE-COATED FLEXIBLEMATERIAL HAVING A METAL SUPPORT BAR SECURED BETWEEN THE FOLD, ANDPUNCHING OUT A U-CONTOURED TAB FROM THE METAL SUPPORT BAR THROUGH THELAYERS OF ADHESIVE-COATED FLEXIBLE MATERIAL.